


Untrodden Paths

by BlueNightOwl



Category: One Piece
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, Dark, Minor Character Death, Multi, Tags will be updated when necessary, Vampires, Were-Creatures, and swearing, tagging is hard, there will be some violence, truth to be told so far it's only been OCs and no one misses those
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-02
Updated: 2018-05-14
Packaged: 2019-04-17 08:40:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,938
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14185140
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlueNightOwl/pseuds/BlueNightOwl
Summary: An unfortunate meeting with a vampire had gotten her turned. After escaping him she finds herself alone and with no idea what to do. The punk she meets somewhat later must have turned his parents' hair grey but at least the guy could teach her how to be a vampire without her turning into a danger for everyone around her.Meanwhile Sanji has an entirely different problem.





	1. A new Dawn

**Author's Note:**

> Well, here is my very first Fanfiction on this site and I am really excited. I hope that you will enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy writing it.  
> I do not own One Piece and I make no money writing this.
> 
> Before we start here are three things I want you to know about this fic:  
> 1\. This is a story about Vampires, Werebeasts and the supernatural in general. The societies in this story live in fear of the supernatural. You can expect it to go to dark places.  
> 2\. There will be swearing. I will try my best to keep it to a minimum and only use it during highly emotional times but it will be there.  
> 3\. The characters actions are the result of all their experiences and the society they live in. So please note that the characters in this story behave in accordance to what they have experienced in their life so far and how they were raised. – I have not been very nice to them on that front.  
> If you have a problem with any of this, this story might not be for you.
> 
> Please note that English is not my mother tongue so please know that should you find any errors I would be happy to correct them.
> 
> On we go.

**Chapter 1 – A new Dawn**

The sun was still down when she woke up again but the moon wasn’t to be seen either. The night’s grey slowly turning lighter taking on a more reddish colour. Her neck hurt, actually her entire body hurt but her neck was the worst. Slowly she lifted her right hand up – when had it gotten so heavy? – and felt along her neck.

First the right side of her neck, up and down slowly. Nothing. The back – nothing. The front – nothing. Finally the left side of her neck – noth... her fingertips felt two large, almost hole-like puncture wounds.

Panic seeped into her belly and she shut her eyes tight. No! No! No! No! No! She had always been careful! Never wandering around in the forest at night, going so far as to never leaving the town after dusk. She used special soap – all girls her age did – to make her scent unattractive for vampires. Yes she reeked but it kept the damned bloodsuckers away! Usually. Normally.

She wore clothes made from hemp – vampires hated that. She avoided wearing jewellery and make-up. Made herself look plain and unattractive. Vampires liked pretty things. She did too, but she wanted to live.

Tears welled up behind her still closed eyes. This was bad. She had been bitten and used as a fucking meal. The fact that she couldn’t remember anything after going out to pick up some milk, while it was still bright out and sunny, scared her. It scared her more than her teacher’s tales of demons and werewolves ever did.

The first tear rolled down her cheek. It felt hot, way too hot. She tried to take deep breaths. In and out. In and out. She had to be rational about this: yes she had been bitten and used as a meal but here she was awake and breathing, she even felt her heart thundering against her ribcage. It couldn’t be all that bad then now, could it? It meant that some old experienced vampire had gotten to her, it just had to. The older ones knew how to take what they needed from a human without either killing or turning them.

It was the younger ones that killed, usually on accident. They were the reason Nami and her friends, every single girl and woman under forty actually, reeked of a mixture of garlic, hemp and musk. There were artificial pheromones in the soaps and lotions they used that served to turn away even zombies and those stupid things were anything but picky!

They were the reason Nami and her friends dressed in ugly, itchy clothes that did nothing for their figures and cut their hair short in order to look like boys.

More hot tears rolled down her cheeks. Old experienced vampires avoided human females and human children like the plague because an attack on their children or womenfolk was usually the one thing humans would actually start a vampire hunt about.

Nami pressed her shaking hand against her mouth, hoping to muffle the sobs that started to wreck her body. She needed to be silent in case the vampire was still around; it was still dark enough for them to be out after all. And she feared that he would return to finish her off should he hear her.

The story of Mary Battony came unbidden to her mind and her body started shaking. Mary had been her friend and Mary was dead. She had had enough of the bad smell that followed her, of the colourless dresses and pants she had to wear. She wanted to be like the girls in the big cities – the vampire free cities. Cocoyashi Village wasn’t one of the big cities. It was as far away from one of the big cities as it could get. And somewhere in the woods was a vampire nest.

About six years ago, on the evening of her eighteenth birthday Mary had partied hard, had worn a bright red dress and diamond earrings and a necklace that had sparkled like the stars. The make-up had made her look prettier than Nami had ever seen her before and she had worn a perfume she had stolen from her grandmother. She had laughed and been loud and not heeded the warnings the elders had given her. The warnings her grandmother had given her. Had ignored her parents’ frightened words.

Nami had left her friend’s party way after dusk, clutching Genzo’s arm tightly, afraid until the front door of her home shut tightly behind her. It was the last time she had seen Mary alive.

They had found her around midday the day after her party. Pale as snow. No colour to her aside from her smeared make-up. Genzo had told her that they had found the initial bite-wounds, large and ugly, which had already started to heal before her death. The vampire hadn’t killed her friend immediately, no, he had apparently returned at a later point in time and torn into her like a mad animal. Torn her stomach open and ripped her throat out.

Thinking about Mary made her sick to this day.

A young dumb one had gotten to her then, probably had a fucking cold! How else would he have been able to stand her stench! The tears were flowing steadily now and her muffled sobs were way too loud. She pressed her other hand over her mouth as well and tried her hardest to stay still.

That was when the morning choir started. Considering the time of year, that meant that the vampire had about half an hour to get his ugly ass to his fucking nest. Good. He wouldn’t be around then if he liked his version of living.

Tentatively Nami opened her eyes, everything was blurred, quite probably due to the still falling tears. The sky was getting brighter; sun-break wasn’t far away. This discovery helped to calm her down slightly. She gingerly lifted her hands away from her mouth and wiped at her eyes trying to remove the tears. She sniffled, she had to stop crying. She had to get home and tell the elders, had to tell her sister and her mother.

When her hands came away from her face she froze. Red. Her hands were covered in a red substance. This couldn’t be. Please no. Please...

Nami wiped her shaking hands off on her grey shirt and then brought them back to her face only to furiously rub at the tears. Her breathing quickened, her heart slammed against her ribs. When she pulled her hands back to look at them she started to shake violently.

Blood-tears. When one was turned into a vampire a person would cry blood-tears for the next few years of their existence.

It meant that she hadn’t gotten away with her life. It meant that she was dead on some level and would spend the rest of her miserable existence as the very thing that she feared and loathed the most: a vampire.

Nami was full on sobbing now, no longer caring if her attacker was still around and potentially coming back to finish her off. Truthfully she would have preferred it. To be fully dead was way better than to be a vampire. She wouldn’t even be able to kill herself: vampire instincts were survival oriented. Perhaps she could ask the elders for a mercy kill...

Rustling in the bushes to her right made her flinch and stiffen. A feeling of dread rose in her stomach replacing her desperation and heightening her fear. She heard her blood rushing in her ears and could feel the red-hot tears rolling down her cheeks again.

“Oh, hello my beautiful Goddess. Are you awake again?” a young, blond man stepped out of the thicket. He was good-looking. Extremely good-looking.

“Oh, my love, why are you crying? It pains me to see tears on your beautiful face. Trust me my dear there is no need to cry, my beautiful swan. I will make you my Queen of the Night and give you anything you desire. Nothing but the best for my breathtaking Goddess.” He gave her a sweeping bow and then looked deep into her eyes.

Nami was no longer shaking; fear and dread had paralysed her. She simply stared at the blond, blue-eyed man. She didn’t know why but something didn’t sit right with her, something inside her was screaming at her. ‘Get away!’ it said, ‘Get away from that man!’

His eyes seemed to draw her in, seemed to try and make her forget her fear. The something inside her hissed ‘He will be the end of you! Make your move! Scratch at his eyes and run! There is no other way!’

“My beautiful Goddess it would seem that I do not know your name. Why please give it to me. I would like to call my Queen by her name.” The man then gave her his most charming smile.

That was when she saw it. He was a vampire. His fangs were gleaming in the early morning light. Her breath hitched, the fear returned full force. What was the vampire doing here at this time of the day? He should have already sought out his sleeping place!

Her inner something was screeching now ‘Don’t tell him! He turned you! You can never go back! Scratch his eyes and run! It’s your only chance!’

The rushing in her ears got louder, her heartbeat thundering as an unearthly snarl wrenched itself from her throat. Nami gave in to the voice warning her of this man. ‘Good girl.’

All that would remain in her memory of this confrontation were her own animalistic snarls and screeches, the surprised look on the blue-eyed vampires face and the feeling of her own claws – yes claws, she had no idea how that had happened either – tearing across said face and more specifically the vampire’s eyes.

Later when she came to her senses again she was somewhere she had never been to before. As she tried to catch her breath, Nami knew that she must have been running for a considerable amount of time. She remembered that inner voice telling her to do so.

In the end all that really mattered was that she got away from that vampire.


	2. Trouble ahead

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again.  
> I thought I would give you the second chapter, too, because the first two chapters kind of do belong together.  
> A word on two of the mentioned characters: they can both be seen alongside Shanks during Marineford, sadly we have so far not been given their official names so I picked some for them. For further notes on who is who and how I chose their names please scroll down to the end-note.
> 
> Let’s begin.

**Chapter 2 – Trouble ahead**

The silent whistling of the wind as it blew through the cave system the Red Hair Clan had claimed as their homestead a little over two years ago now, usually served to sooth even the most active members of the clan into a peaceful slumber. Luffy, however, still had trouble falling asleep. Something didn’t feel right and try as he might he couldn’t quite put his finger on what exactly it might be.

Both of his brothers were right there with him, just behind the curtains separating their individual quarters, so there was no reason to worry about them and he had made a point of talking to Lady Banchina in the early hours of the night. As withdrawn as she was since Usopp had left the clan two centuries ago she always seemed to know when someone was either in trouble or simply not feeling well. It had been a nice talk, as always, and it had yielded all the information he needed: Zoro was coming along nicely in his studies as were Vivi and Kaya, Master Benn had successfully kept Rockstar and Clan head Shanks alive after angering the local witch-community and Master Yasopp had taken a bunch of the others out for hunting – animals not humans, thank you very much! – Oh and apparently Chopper was in desperate need of shearing, winter was long gone and the poor Weredeer was starting to overheat due to all that thick fur.

So if everything was going as usual why was he feeling so off? – The sound of rushed footsteps had him sitting up and turning around, with a too loud whoosh the curtain separating his personal quarters from the rest of the open cave system was pushed to the side revealing a very dishevelled looking Kaya.

“What is it?” he started not wanting to waste time. Kaya looking this out of it usually meant nothing good. The last time he had seen her like this was when he had found out that his friend Zoro had gotten turned against his will.

“Have you seen Sanji?” her voice was strained. He shook his head “No I haven’t. Shouldn’t he be with Zoro? You know, learning how this entire vampire-business works?”

The blond looked as though her worst fear had come true. “This is bad. You are right, he should have been taking classes but he hasn’t. And no one has seen him since yesterday’s dawn.”

Now the eerie feeling he had had the whole time grew tenfold. “That can’t be right. Someone should have seen him at first-meal.” The look on his friend’s face told him that that hadn’t happened either. “What do we do now?”

Kaya bit her lip. “Master Benn has already sent out the Guards. Anyone that’s not a fully trained Guard is forbidden to go out until Sanji is found.”

Luffy nodded his head; he had long ago learned not to disobey the clan-leaders. “Think he just forgot the time?” That earned him a very un-ladylike snort from his friend “The sun is high in the sky, Luffy. He has to be blind to miss this cue.”

He felt himself sigh and turned his head slightly to the left to stare at his straw hat, a gift from Shanks. “Why don’t you sit down? You don’t look too well.” The black-haired vampire patted the spot right next to him in invitation.

Not too much later he felt the bedding on his right side dip down a little and he turned away from his hat to look at his friend. Her hands were folded in her lap and she stared at the ground. He waited for her to speak.

“I’m scared Luffy. After the attack on Kyoko and Hanna two years ago...” Luffy remembered that night as though it was just yesterday. It had been by no means his first encounter with vampire-hunters but it had been the first time they had actually lost clan-members during one such an encounter.

“The people around here are afraid of us. Really, really afraid. What if they decided that enough is enough?”

Luffy could feel the muscles in his jaw work. It was a possibility, but... “It doesn’t need to be like that Kaya. I mean you can smell those humans like ten miles against the wind. They take precautions against us. So as long as we leave them be we might be able to live alongside them without having to be afraid ourselves.” He tried to give her an encouraging smile, one he himself didn’t feel.

Her own smile was faint. “Perhaps you are right. It’s just... I feel like we are in for trouble. A lot of trouble.”

By the ancient vampires he felt the same, but hope was always the last thing to die. “Look Kaya, I know that feeling but...”

The sound of both hurried hoof- and footsteps interrupted the black-haired vampire and both he and Kaya lifted their heads up in time to see Vivi and Chopper enter the youth’s quarters at a frantic pace. Their faces showed nothing but worry.

“Luffy it’s Sanji” the little Weredeer began only to end his sentence abruptly as though he had forgotten how to speak. Vivi quickly took over “Rondo and Bacalao just dragged him back through the entrance. He is bleeding badly!”

That was when Chopper found his voice again “His eyes. That’s where he is hurt! And from what we gathered when Rondo and Bacalao came back it was not vampire-hunters!” Vivi nodded in affirmation.

Luffy frowned, his hands clenched. Next to him Kaya had covered her mouth with her hands. He nodded his head. “Ok. Vivi, Chopper calm down and keep Kaya company. I’m going to check this out.” He stood and made his way out of his room, faintly registering Chopper and Vivi sitting down with Kaya when he let the curtain fall closed behind him.

Making his way towards the main gathering area, his own footsteps rung way too loud in his ears. If Sanji had not been attacked by vampire-hunters then what had it been? There wasn’t much in this area that could potentially be dangerous even for untrained or inexperienced vampires like his blond friend. The witches tended to make a massive production out of it every time they thought one of the other supernatural creatures needed to be punished by them. Drama queens, the lot of them.

They did have a couple of Werecats running around and while those tended to attempt to claw their opponents eyes out they also made a point of not getting anywhere near vampires. Something about not being able to stand their smell... he really should have paid more attention to Lady Banchina when she explained why most werebeasts were loath to be around vampires and witches.

It was most decidedly not Werewolves. Luffy had been the witness of one such an attack when he was just a fledgling and he knew without a doubt that Sanji would be dead right now had his attacker been a Werewolf.

And that left him with one option he really, really hated: another vampire.

The murmuring of other clan-members greeted him well before he could see them and it grew louder the closer he got. At the back of the group he could see Zoro. The green-haired vampire’s broad back was tense. Not good.

“Zoro.” He greeted his friend softly. The other turned to look at him and grunted his own greeting. “How’s it looking?” “Not good. I could hear Rondo say that they caught the tail-end of a fight between Sanji and another vampire.” Zoro held a hand up to stop his friend from speaking. “There’s more: Bacalao said that the vampire’s neck and face were blood-smeared.”

The older vampire felt his breath quickening. This was bad. “Is not all.” Rockstar jumped in, looking more serious than ever. “I heard Rondo telling Benn that the other vampire was in kill-or-be-killed-mode.” Luffy swallowed thickly. “And that the other vampire wasn’t reacting at all to their presence. The guy only fled when Sanji was down on the ground clutching his eyes.”

Brook’s sombre voice then picked up, making the three vampires flinch not having heard the living skeleton’s approach. “I stood next to the councils-chamber for the past few minutes. Master Bacalao spoke of the lack of smell of a clan-outsider and wounds too fresh to have happened earlier than last night.” He paused, clearly uncomfortable with what he was about to say. “Master Bacalao spoke of the Thrall being in the air.”

Luffy’s breath hitched and his eyes hardened. “No.” He spoke firmly, confident in his knowledge of his blond friend. “That’s not like Sanji. He would never do something that cruel to anyone. Never.”

Brook inclined his head. “But that is exactly what has everyone on high alert Master Luffy. We all know Sanji. We all know that the Thrall is the very kind of cruelty he would never commit against anyone. He is not the type to do something like that. But we all know who is.”

Ice imbedded itself into Luffy’s spine. “You don’t mean...” the skeleton’s black afro bobbed a little as it’s owner nodded his head in confirmation. “Yes, the Puppeteer that turned Sanji might still be pulling strings.”

Next to him Zoro tensed, his voice rough “But we ended the stupid bird’s influence on the idiot cook months ago.” Rockstar crossed his arms in front of his chest. “You know they also say that the Thrall only truly ends when the one that initiated it is dead.”

A dangerous glint entered Luffy’s eyes as he stared at Rockstar. “You think we might have to go bird-hunting then?” The red-head gave the older vampire a crooked grin “If we have to we probably should inform Law and his cronies, if I remember correctly he does have a bone to pick with the oversized bastard.”

At that Zoro, too, started grinning “Yeah, if we want him to join our clan we have to play nice and share.” Luffy pouted just slightly “Ok. But only our Clan and Torao.” He may have wanted to murder the Flamingo by himself for everything he had ever done to both of his friends, but he guessed he could share with Torao.

The four of them were silent for a moment, the clan’s quiet murmuring now soothing their nerves instead of straining them. They could hear Lady Banchina hushing some of the clan’s younger members. Master Yasopp quite probably with the other clan-elders trying to determine what exactly had happened.

“So, what do we do now?” the green-haired vampire carefully rested his elbow on the swords at his hip. Luffy turned his head and looked to where their friend had to be. “We wait for Master Shanks’ decision on this. He will defend his clan, we all know that, but when and how are his to decide. In the meantime we will stop Ace from getting himself murdered once he hears about this. You know how he is.”

Rockstar snorted “Yeah, no joke. We might want to get Sabo in on the job, too. He is the more level-headed one of your brothers. And he can match Ace strength wise.”

Luffy gave a short nod. “I will go talk to him. Ace was asleep earlier but since the Guards went out Sabo might still be awake. Zoro, Brook – you two keep me posted on what’s going on. Rockstar do me a favour and make sure the Newfangs actually obey orders. If this really is Mingo’s doing they should be kept out of the resulting fight. The stupid bird is a class 1 with tons of experience.... And he is using the Thrall.” – “No problem, will do. Anything for the clan.”

Brook hummed as he watched his friend’s retreating back. “In other words: this is going to be ugly.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And done for today, I hope you liked it.  
> Now for the two Red Hair Pirates I gave names to:
> 
> Rondo: Is the crew-member with the long blond hair wearing a hat featuring the crew’s Jolly Roger, sunglasses and white gloves. His name is, as far as I could research, the Austrian term for a tack manoeuvre and used in inland navigation.
> 
> Bacalao: Is the blond crew-member with his hair tied into a ponytail. During Marineford he was wearing dark clothes and carried a sword. I named him after the phantom island Bacalao (also Terra do Bacalhau). It is also the Spanish word for “cod” or “stockfish”.
> 
> I would really like to hear your thoughts.
> 
> BlueNightOwl out.


	3. The beginning of something

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again,  
> I’m quite sorry for the long wait but what little time I have for writing has gotten even less and then this puppy here decided to give me problems.  
> As you can see after wrestling with it for some time the result has gotten rather lengthy, but I couldn’t bring myself to split it up.
> 
> I do not own One Piece and I make no money writing this.
> 
> Now hold onto something as there is quite a bit ahead of you :D  
> Have fun.

**Chapter 3 – The beginning of something**  
  
The smell of iron was the first thing that truly registered with her when she came to again. It had been at least two days now since she had been turned and she had admittedly tried to kill herself by extended exposure to sunlight. All she got for her trouble though, was a slight sunburn. Perhaps the infamous vulnerability was something that set in over time?

During the last two days she had also drifted in and out of consciousness, usually when her mind cleared enough she found herself lying in the shade of a tree or in the middle of a thicket, exhausted but otherwise fine. But this, the smell of iron, of blood, was new and the orange-haired woman was not keen on finding out what she had done while she was out of control.

A light wind blew and rustled leaves that were apparently everywhere around her. Another thicket then, good. And wasn’t that scary thought? – That the fact that waking up in a thicket in the middle of a forest she had never been in before, was somehow reassuring?  
She opened her eyes and did her best to clear her vision as she sat up. The smell persisted and only got stronger when she brought her hands up to her face in order to rub at her eyes. With dread settling in her stomach she pulled her hands away to look at them.... as she thought: they were covered in half-dried blood...

Her hands started to tremble and she felt herself getting sick. Hurriedly getting to her knees and crawling a few meters further into the thicket Nami started heaving and spent the following minutes emptying the contents of her stomach onto the ground in front of her.  
When she was finally done she fell back onto her behind and slid backwards until her back came in contact with a rather sturdy bush. Her entire body shook and she felt tears well up in her eyes, which did not help her situation at all and only served to get more of the hated red colour onto her face and her clothes. At least the blood-tears didn’t actually smell like blood, small mercies.

Sobbing silently the orange-haired woman pulled her knees to her chest and buried her face in them. She had shed so many tears in the last two days that she thought that she should long since have run dry but apparently she still had some to spare. It wouldn’t help her, she knew that, but she just couldn’t help it. She missed her sister, her mother and Genzo.

The sound of leaves rustling and wood silently creaking high above her tore her out of her small pity-fest. Her heartbeat sped up it’s pace in the same second it took her to whip her head up to look for the source of the sound. Please not another vampire, she wouldn’t be able to take it.  
It didn’t take her long to find the culprit: high up in the branches of an old elm-tree sat a young man watching her. If Nami had to guess she would say that he was about her age, give or take a year. He had long, wavy black hair and an impossibly long nose. They just stared at each other for a while.

A strange smell hit her now sensitive nose, one she had never before encountered and she couldn’t help but sniff the air a little. How humiliating, she behaved like a dog. The strange man simply tilted his head a little to the side baring his throat just the slightest bit and that action somehow seemed to calm her instincts down, instincts that she only now became aware were telling her that this was another supernatural creature and that she needed to be careful.

Swallowing her fears she decided to call out to him “Who are you?”

A smile spread slowly across the strangers face. “So you finally came out of the feeding-haze? I was a little worried there for a bit. It’s been a long time since I bore witness to one and had forgotten how messy they could get. The name’s Usopp by the way.” The newly dubbed Usopp sniffed the air himself. His smile fell from his face “But truth to be told you should not give me your name. You shouldn’t give anyone your name for a while in fact.”

That had her stiffen and a foreboding feeling sank into her still hurting stomach. “Why is that and what is a feeding-haze?” She needed as much information as possible and if this Usopp-guy was willing to share she would take it.

“You really are a Newfang, aren’t you? I mean I already had my suspicions but to have them confirmed... I have to say I haven’t seen any in quite some time. And to answer your questions: a feeding-haze is when a vampire went too long without blood and their instincts have taken over in order to ensure their survival.” The dark-haired man explained readily “What’s left of your dinner is over there,” he pointed towards another elm-tree several meters away from her on her left side “but don’t worry it was just an old roebuck.”

Her breath hitched. “Not a human?” Usopp shook his head and reassured her “Not a human, just an old roebuck.” A tension she hadn’t really felt previously suddenly left her body and she slumped down a little. Relieved sobs escaped her throat and for once she didn’t care in the slightest that she was crying in front of a being that could potentially be the end of her.

The young man in the tree waited calmly for her tears to stop before addressing her again. “Feeling better?” He received a weak nod. “Good. I know it does sound kind of strange to you but I am sorry that you got turned. It was clearly against your will. Otherwise you wouldn’t be such a mess of a Newfang.”

Nami was not entirely sure if that was an insult or not.

“It is also why you shouldn’t give anyone your name in the foreseeable future.” Insult or not her instincts screamed at her to pay attention to the dark-haired man, who might just be another vampire. Well at least he wasn’t trying to murder her right now... He apparently had better manners than the dimwit that had turned her!  
He looked at her, face serious. “That’s because I can smell the Thrall surrounding you.”

It was silent for a moment. “Excuse me, but what is that Thrall thing you just mentioned?” To his credit the black-haired man didn’t seem surprised at her question, he just got comfortable on his branch.  
“Want the long, throughout explanation or would you like the short summary?” “The short summary will be enough for now.” And Nami truly felt as though she couldn’t take in much more information, no matter how much she wanted to do just that. She felt so very tired.

Nodding his head Usopp proceeded to explain “The Thrall is the ability class 1 vampires use to turn the victims they have turned into mindless slaves. Don’t worry though, the ability is exclusive to class 1 vampires and those are actually rather rare.... this is not helping you at all, is it?” he asked, having seen the fear entering her eyes.  
“Not really, no...”  
“Sorry, I’m still working on my human people skills... Anyway while the Thrall can only be initiated by class 1 vampires on their own victims, it is the first person that calls the victim by their given name that will complete the spell and turn the victim into their mindless slave.

Take you for example: whoever turned you initiated the Thrall, now if you were to give me your real name and I called you by it I would be the one completing the spell and you would be forced to serve me and only me, no matter what the one that turned you has to say about it.”

“Wait, didn’t you say that the Thrall was a class 1 exclusive ability?” she was confused.

“Sorry, I know it is confusing but this is the short version of a very complex enslaving mechanism. See, the class 1 vampire makes the enslavement possible but it is the one that calls you by your name that really matters.”

“Let me get that straight: the class 1 vampire initiates this Thrall thing and whoever calls me by my name would turn me into a slave. It doesn’t matter who this person is?”

“Got it in one! That’s why you cannot under any circumstances tell me or anyone else your name until the Thrall is gone from you.”

Silence reigned while Nami tried to process the information she had just heard. It took several minutes for her to find her voice again.  
“You said ‘until the Thrall is gone from you’, does that mean it will dissipate on its own?”  
The dark-haired man nodded “Yeah, but only if the spell is not completed. If it gets completed it’s over, there is no way back. You will forever be forced to do the biddings of someone else.”

In a flash she remembered the blond vampire, the one that had turned her. She remembered how he had asked her for her name, remembered how her inner voice, her instincts, had told her not to... something started to dawn on her, something she didn’t like, not one bit. Her stomach started to churn again.

“Say, if it were to be completed would I know what I am doing?” by the heavens she hoped not, but she needed to know.

The other one’s sombre answer did not help the sick feeling in her stomach and filled her further with dread and fear “Yes,” he told her “from what I was taught, it is like standing next to yourself: feeling everything that’s happening to your body and being unable to react to or do anything about it. You can’t do anything on your own accord. My mother always said that it is easily the most malicious one of all vampire abilities.”

Cold crept up her back and made her shiver. She didn’t want to ask but she needed to. “Is there any way to get out of the Thrall once it is completed? I know you said there is no way back but... there just has to be an out!” Nami wanted, no she needed there to be a way out. The very fact that her attacker had apparently initiated the Thrall on her, now that she knew what it was, made her feel so sick that she could already taste the bile at the back of her throat.

The man in the tree gave her a contemplative look. “You know, there are actually two ways.” He held up his index finger “One: if the one that controls you tells you to use your own mind. He can never take that order back, but it leaves the very nasty backdoor of the initiator taking over and giving you very vague orders, that you will carry out no matter what you think about them. And the second one is to kill the initiator, read the one that turned you in the first place. Truth to be told, however, the only way to be sure that victims of a completed Thrall-spell are free from it is killing the one responsible for initiating it.”

She swallowed thickly and nodded. Better to keep her name to herself then... then it hit her: she couldn’t go back home, not that she wanted to scare her family to death by showing up being a vampire and all, but her sister and her mother might call her by her name should they see her and this terrible thing.... it made things feel so final.  
She audibly drew a deep breath. “How long until it’s going to be gone from me? You said it would eventually go away.” She dreaded the answer.

“I’m not sure how long it will take with you, but I was taught that by the time the wounds on the victims neck heal the Thrall will be gone.”

Her hand flew up to her neck. “So I will have to wait until these heal and then I will be out of danger of being enslaved?”

“That’s about right. If you really want to be sure you can wait an additionally fortnight before having anyone call you by your name. Or you can have another vampire check for it regularly. Any other vampire will do, they can all smell it.”

That had her tensing up. “I don’t want to be anywhere near another vampire, no matter how nice they are to me!”  
Strangely enough that answer earned her a wide grin from the man. “Good thing then that I no longer am one, isn’t it?”

The information sent her reeling. “But... but aren’t you one? You smell strange and you know so much about vampires... the things that we don’t learn in school... and you can smell the Thrall or can all supernaturals do that?” She clamped her mouth shut, not wanting to start rambling.

An amused chuckle reached her ears and she kind of wanted to yell at him to not make fun of her. “Easy there. I said ‘that I no longer am one’. I was a vampire at one point in my life, was born one actually, which is also the only reason I can still smell the Thrall, some things don’t vanish. But I haven’t been one in nearly two hundred years.”

“That makes no sense! How can you be born a vampire than stop being one and still be alive two hundred years later! How do you even stop being a vampire?”

The man still smiled widely at her and it was starting to anger her. “Oh, I love telling humans about this, they all react the same way. But before you start throwing things at me let me explain: I didn’t ‘stop’ being a vampire because I wanted to, I ‘stopped’ being a vampire because I ‘changed’ race.”

Nami fell silent for a good handful of seconds. “That makes even less sense. How do you ‘change’ race? How do you change what you essentially are?”

“You did and not too long ago, too.”

“I didn’t change because I wanted to!” She snapped at him. “I changed because someone apparently wanted to have a new servant and made the decision that that was to be me without asking me!”

“I wasn’t asked either.” The rather calm reply stopped her from snapping at him any further.

She stared. “How...What...”

“Werewolf attack.” Was the answer she was given.

“Werewolf attack?” She received a nod and then gathered herself. “I...I didn’t know it was possible for other supernatural beings to be turned into another race. I thought humans were the only beings that could be turned or changed.... Are you one now, you know, a werewolf?”

She saw him running a hand over the back of his neck. “You are not entirely wrong, under normal circumstances humans are the only species that can be turned or changed, if that is the word you prefer, since... well actually the why goes straight into biology and genetics and is highly complicated... I would rather not try to explain something to you that I myself don’t fully understand.

What happened to me is actually something that happens very rarely, so rarely in fact that the clan’s medic had no idea what happened to me and had to read up on it in some ancient tome just to get an idea of what was going on. And no, I’m not a werewolf, but a very close relative of those guys.” That spanned a handful of possible werebeast-types, but most importantly: all of them were smaller than werewolves and usually avoided getting anywhere near humans and their cities and villages. Only one werewolf relative actively sought out human company and the only ones that had to fear those guys were other werebeasts and vampires...

Nami stared at the black-haired man and mulled over what he had told her so far and what she herself knew about vampires and her situation. As the minutes ticked by she came to a conclusion: if what she knew was actually true she needed his knowledge, she needed to know what he knew just so that she would not be a danger to other humans. Like her mother and her sister and Genzo. But she needed him to not be a vampire, too. Fear be damned, this was an opportunity she couldn’t let pass. She narrowed her eyes. “Prove it.”

He blinked at her. “Prove what?”

“That you are no longer a vampire. That you are a werebeast.” Her voice was steady and strong. Good.

“Ok. How?”

She took a deep breath. “Come down here and shift. I know you guys can do that without a full moon present. It’s just a stupid story that you need one to shift.”

She watched as an apprehensive look crossed his features. Was he unsure? “You do know that I found you while you were in a feeding-haze, right? And you remember kind of confirming that you were turned very recently? Lady you are running mainly on instincts and the only reason you are still sitting there and not already running away from me is that I am several meters away from you and high up in a tree. Me coming down there and shifting is going to send you running, that is what I can guarantee you.”

No, no! She needed his knowledge and she needed proof that he was telling the truth. She would not learn from a vampire, no matter how important the lessons were! These things were heartless beasts! All of them!  
“But...but I need to know that you are not a vampire. I need to see that you aren’t one of those beasts. I can’t... I can’t...”she pressed out, unable to finish the sentence.

“What can you not?” He questioned her, not unkind. “I kind of need to know what you want.”

Lowering her head towards the ground for the first time since noticing the man in the tree, she closed her eyes and took another deep breath trying to centre herself. Her instincts were oddly quiet about her turning her eyes away from a possible danger.  
“I cannot be a danger to humans.” Was what she finally managed to get out, her voice silent. “Almost all my live I have strived to be a good daughter... to be a good sister... a good friend... and now, now I am the very thing that is most dangerous to those I love... the very thing that has already ended several lives in my circles of friends and acquaintances and I... I can’t bear the thought of someday turning against them... I-I need to be able to control myself... I can’t... I just can’t be responsible for ending a human life...”

Once again silence reigned and Nami hoped that she hadn’t said too much, Usopp was a supernatural after all, had been born one, and these beings didn’t think too highly of human emotions.

“You know I always admired just how intensely humans feel and how they express their love each other.”

She scoffed. “Yeah, sure...”

“No, I mean it.” He gave her a gentle smile. “I know that most vampires look down upon the way humans express what they feel, but you need to keep in mind that most vampires have already lived for a very long time. And the difference of living not just for about a hundred years but for several centuries... most of them don’t truly look down upon humans. They have seen and felt so much they have gone numb.”

Looking back up at the dark-haired man her expression must have been one of surprise, of that she was sure. “But how can you go numb? How can you not feel? That’s terrible!”

“It’s not like they want to go numb. It’s just something that happens over time... It is one of the reasons one so rarely sees young ones of them around. The adults have forgotten how to handle the emotions the little ones feel so much more intensely than they do and that often ends with abuse or the death of the child. Changing a human adult into one of their race is the easiest way of keeping the race going. Human adults have learned to control their emotions and time and training will do the rest...

It started to happen to me too, you know, going numb... I am three hundred forty five years old... The difference between most of the others and me is that I actually went and got into therapy.”

Silence.

“What?”

A low amused chuckle resonated from the male’s chest. “I went and got into therapy. Don’t look like that. You humans are geniuses when it comes to exploring things... Things like the mind and the way emotions work are part of what your race has explored at length. I merely took advantage of that knowledge and got myself help working through some issues. Talking actually really helps and frankly speaking ninety eight percent of all supernatural beings suck at doing just that.”

Nami felt her mouth working but not a sound came out. How was she supposed to respond to that?

“You seem very surprised.” Usopp kept chuckling.

She shook her head slowly from left to right and back again. “How can you talk so openly to a complete stranger about all of this?”

His smile turned into a grin, for the first time since she had seen him he was showing her his teeth while doing so. It was the first time she saw just how large his canines were. “Like I said, I got therapy. It helps. A lot. And it’s not like I’m giving you in depth information about anything I went into therapy for. But I felt the need to assure you that it is entirely possible to live a relatively normal human life while being not an actual human being.”

Now that served to upset her again. How did that man keep tossing her from one emotion to another! “Yeah, sure I will be able to live a relatively normal human life. I’m a stinking vampire! I’ll have to live off of blood!”

“That is actually just a myth. Yes, you are going to need to drink blood. The amount you need depends on what class of vampire you are, whether or not you choose to be active during daylight or moonlight hours and how much of your powers you are going to use. But otherwise you will also need to keep a normal diet.”

“Wait! I can choose when I want to be active? Does that mean that vampires don’t die when they get exposed to sunlight? Is that just another myth?”

“Afraid so, but before you go and panic: most vampires choose to be active during moonlight hours because being active during sunlight hours is extremely draining to them and their powers aren’t even half as effective during the day as they are during the night. Vampires simply are strongest during the night, which is why so few pick the daylight hours.”

Two days of trying to kill herself via sunlight exposure have just been declared a waste of time! Great! “What do we even know about vampires that isn’t just a freaking myth? A normal diet you say? I hope it doesn’t involve too much meat. I like meat, but I like vegetables and fruit better.”

A warm chuckle reached her ears. “Don’t worry. Other vampires might look at you funny should you ever tell them that, because most of them have a meat-heavy diet, but you can actually minimize the amount of meat in your personal one to whatever extend you like. What you absolutely need to incorporate into your diet, however, is milk or dairy products. You need the calcium for your bones and teeth.

I myself spend the last fifty years of my clan-live as a vegetarian. Sadly couldn’t keep that diet as a werebeast-kid because apparently werebeast children need meat to grow properly and I really wanted to avoid the werebeast equivalent of a feeding-haze.”

“Have you gone back to being a vegetarian?”

He shook his head. “No, I have found that the healing-capabilities of the werebeast body use up a lot of calories, fat and fibre and there is no easier way to give my body what it needs than a well balanced diet that includes meat.”

Nami bit her lip. “To avoid a feeding-haze?”

“Yes,” he nodded “if you want to not be a danger towards humans, as you said, you will need to do anything to avoid triggering a feeding-haze. The feeding-haze is the most dangerous state a vampire can ever be in, when he is around humans.”

She nodded to herself, clenched her fists and stared intensely at the man. He had been very open and willing to tell her about vampires and to an extend himself so far. It was all or nothing now. “I want to learn... No, I need to learn everything you know. I don’t want to be dangerous. I don’t want to be something humans have to fear. But for that I need your knowledge. However...”

“You also need to know that I’m not a vampire. That what I told you so far is the truth.” Usopp finished for her.

“Yes,” she pursed her lips “because no matter what you say I will not learn anything from another one of those bloodsuckers! I refuse to! They ruined my life. So get down here and show me that you are not a vampire! Then you can start teaching me all you know.”

“My, bossy, aren’t we? Ok, I’ll teach you.” He replied mirthfully. “I can’t let a Newfang run around without any training. But first of all: what are your instincts telling you about me? Close your eyes and listen to what is deep down inside of you.”

Closing her eyes a little sceptically she did as she was told and listened for the voice that had saved her from being turned into a mindless slave two days ago. She knew it was there, she just needed to listen for it. She was greeted with silence.

Opening her eyes again after a few minutes she searched out the other’s eyes, trying to convey that she spoke the truth. “There is nothing. Just silence. I don’t understand, it has been pestering me to do certain things ever since I woke up after being turned.”

“That’s ok. It only means that you are no longer running purely on instinct alone. You remember that I told you that you would run the moment I shifted earlier, right? See, right now you can no longer hear your instincts yelling at you because they do no longer register the situation you are in as a dangerous one.”

“My instincts no longer think you are dangerous?”

“More like a combination of you no longer running so low on blood that you are in danger of dying of blood-thirst and your instincts no longer categorising me as a direct threat to your life. They quite likely still very much categorise me as dangerous.”

“Just not to me?” “Just not to you.” “Then get down here.” That earned her another chuckle and the man let himself drop from his branch onto the ground.

By the time he landed he had already shifted into his werebeast-form. Usopp’s werebeast-form was enormous but from what she could tell too small to be an actual werewolf. The way his form looked reminded her very much of one of the wolf-like herding dogs the shepherds of her village used, with a long muzzle and strong jaws, ears erect and pointing towards her as if listening to her intently. His fur was long and dark brown and black. The blue eyes were a curiosity however.

“And?” He tilted his head sideways, looking inquisitive. “Instincts still not calling for you to run? And more importantly: Is this proof enough for you?”

Nami drew a shaky breath and listened intently into herself, after a few moments she gave him the first smile she had smiled in the past few days. If it was a little shaky she could hardly be faulted. “I get nothing and yes, this is exactly what I needed to see. You’re a weredog, aren’t you?”

“Good and nailed it. Can I come closer? I didn’t want to say anything earlier but the bite-wounds need to be taken care of. Just because you can no longer die from things like sicknesses and infections doesn’t mean that you can no longer contract them.”

That was something she hadn’t thought about at all in the last two days. Carefully she brought her left hand up to the wounds and felt the skin there. Hot, way too hot. She nodded at him. “You can come over. Do you know what to do with these kind of bite-wounds?”

Usopp shifted back a little slower than he had before and whipped his hands off on his shirt as he slowly made his way over to where Nami was still sitting. “Sure do. This isn’t the first time I’ve seen this type of wound and I have even treated them before.”

He knelt down when he reached her and indicated towards her neck, careful not to move too quickly, quite probably still cautious about how she might react. “May I?”

Truth to be told Nami had decided that she would have let him take a look at those wounds even if her instincts had yelled at her not to let him near. What was the worst he could do to her? Tear her throat out? Please, wasn’t death exactly what she had been looking for in the past two days?

Giving him a consenting nod she tilted her head to the side and showed the other her neck. With a satisfied hum the black-haired man went on to examine the bite-wounds. It didn’t even take a full minute for him to hiss and curse her attacker lowly under his breath. “Well, these look awful.” He finally concluded.

She looked at him out of the corner of her eye, while he still gently brushed his fingers over the skin surrounding the two hole-like wounds. “What do you mean?”

“What I mean is that it is a wonder that you are not with your forefathers.” He gave the wounds another look before leaning back and looking straight into her eyes. “I’m serious. The way these things look you should not be alive... ah, sorry I mean you should by all means be dead **and** gone.”

That had her faltering. “I should?”

“Yes, I don’t know who got to you but I can tell you that whoever it was they were most likely a Newfang themselves. The bite is not clean, but shaky and messily done. It is too deep and almost severed your artery. The fact that they actually managed to turn you is either a commendable feat or nothing but dumb luck. Personally the way this looks I would wager that it was pure dumb luck.”

Fury seeped into her stomach. “What? The blasted idiot almost managed to kill me? Why? Why didn’t he just do so? Is he not capable of killing someone properly! Oh, I could.... Aahh!” By now her hands were in her hair, pulling on it. She spent the following minutes angrily spewing death threats meant for the blond vampire.

“Feeling better?” inquired the weredog sometime after she had fallen silent again. Nami nodded her head, she felt exhausted. “Tell you what, I know a bit about dumb luck.”

She didn’t say anything but she guessed that her inquisitive stare was clear enough, because he gave her a rueful smile, opened a few buttons on his shirt and pulled the collar of his shirt away. Old, ugly scars wound themselves around the lower section of his throat and down across the now visible part of his chest. And the way it looked she could guess that the scars went even further down, maybe even across his stomach.  
She felt her eyes grow wide and her mouth run dry. Gingerly she reached out but stopped herself from touching the scars at the last moment.

“As I said: Werewolf attack. Those idiots don’t do anything by half and me still existing is nothing short of sheer luck.” He buttoned his shirt back up. “I thought you might feel better knowing that you aren’t alone in having questionable luck. What followed after I was able to get around again wasn’t pretty and led to me leaving the clan for good... My point is no matter what happens, life goes on and it is up to us to do the best with the cards we have been dealt.”

Nami swallowed. “Questionable luck is one way of putting it... And you sound like a self-help book. Next thing I know you are going to quote the Bible on me.”  
  
“Is not that I can’t, it just isn’t my style. Plus I haven’t been part of the church for about one hundred and seventy years.” He smirked at her.  
  
That had her staring at him flabbergasted. “You can’t be serious. You were a member of the church?” He chuckled at her.  
  
“I’m not kidding. Today I’m pretty sure it was just part of a rebellious phase during my beginning adolescence. The priests back then were very nice and not once was I told off by humans for trying to find my personal believe. Can’t say the same about my former clan though... boy that was a night I wish I could forget.”

Nami couldn’t help but giggle. It felt good. “You sound like you were a lot of trouble for your clan.”

“I won’t lie I was. You know being able to look back at everything that happened and viewing it with the eyes of a halfway well adjusted adult coupled with the power of hindsight has made me realise that I was an awfully stubborn kid that was rather difficult to handle. But it is never just the child that is to blame if the relationship with their caretakers is not functioning properly, the adults are adults and should be able to man up and get advice from others if they can’t handle a problem.”

“Your therapist?” “One of them beat that into my skull, yes.” “One of them?” “As I said I am three hundred forty five years old. Show me one human who managed to get past one hundred and twenty.” “Touché.”

That was when he got up and dusted himself off. “Come, we need to get those bite-wounds properly taken care of. If you want to learn how to control yourself we would best start with getting you settled in.” He held a hand out to help Nami up. “Don’t worry the village I reside in knows how to handle Newfangs. You are hardly going to be the first supernatural they see and help adjusting.”

Grabbing his hand she felt her eyes go wide. “Villages like that exist? Aren’t they afraid? I mean newly turned vampires are the most dangerous ones.”

“My village is sort of one of a kind. And like I said don’t worry. All of the residents are trained in slaying-techniques of all kinds and all of them keep fit. They know the necessity of having freshly changed supernatural beings learn how to control themselves and mostly think that if more were properly trained and integrated into human society humans wouldn’t have to hide and fear for their lives 24/7. Remember the devil you know is less scary than the unknown one.”

“Is the village far away?” she couldn’t help but ask she was still tired after all.

“We should reach it within two hours time. You got pretty far into my territory before I spotted you. By the way what do you want me to call you while you wait for the Thrall to vanish? Remember not to give anyone your real name.”

Nami didn’t need to think for long. “Call me Nojiko.”

“That’s a nice name. Tell me who it really belongs to someday?”

She nodded her head. “Someday.”

After a good ten minutes of walking in silence Nami decided to return to conversation. “So therapy... How does it work for you?”

His low chuckle once again reached her ear. She was beginning to like it. “Quite well actually. It keeps me emotionally available and on the right track.”

“Could you, you know... perhaps give me a name or two?”

“I guess you could use someone to talk to and help you after the last few days. Shouldn’t be a problem once we are in the village.”

“Tell me about your village, please?”

Usopp would tell her about it until they reached their destination. It looked nice and quiet where it sat on its’ hill, the fields surrounding it bearing grain and vegetables. When she entered the village Nami felt save for the first time in days.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And done. I hope you liked it.
> 
> Should you ask yourself how Usopp gets to be a relatively well adjusted adult in this, while Nami is tormented by fear when both had a similar experience I would like to remind you of the following:  
> While Usopp was the vampire equivalent of a young teenager when the werewolf attack happened and Nami was an actual adult neither one could depend on their family for emotional support. I hope I illustrated the reasons for this clearly enough.  
> What you must keep in mind however, is that Usopp is older than Nami by three hundred twenty one years. He has a slight head start on her when it comes to coming to terms with everything and got himself professional help to do so.
> 
> Your thoughts are always welcome.
> 
> BlueNightOwl out.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you liked it so far and that you will stay with me on this journey :)
> 
> BlueNightOwl out.


End file.
